It Can Be Done Amigo

Released in 1972 (but not in the USA until 1974), "It Can be Done… Amigo" is an Italian oater starring Ben Spencer as a gentle giant, Coburn, saved from unjust hanging. He becomes the caretaker of a little boy who's the heir of a remote ranch that many people are interested in obtaining for some reason. Jack Palance plays a comical gunfighter/pimp who insists that Coburn marries his nagging sister (Dany Saval) because he was previously intimate with her.

In spirit, but not plot, this is basically an early 70's Euro version of 1963's "McLintock!" Unfortunately it was lost in translation for me. Obviously a lot of effort was put into it, but it failed to engage. It's also marred by the limitations of most Spaghetti Westerns, like dubious dubbing. Plus there should've been more prominent women (Saval is likable, but she just grates on the nerves after a while). Still, the movie's likable; it's just very eccentric, which limits its appeal, but I'll give it another try in a few years.

The film runs 109 minutes and was shot in Almería, Andalucía, Spain.

GRADE: C- (4.5/10 Stars)

I like spaghetti westerns, and I also like Bud Spencer movies. So I thought I would like this spaghetti western starring Bud Spencer (as well as Jack Palance.) Unfortunately, I have to report that even if you like spaghetti westerns and/or Bud Spencer, chances are you'll find this movie a bore like I did. The movie has very little story, and it moves at an unbelievably slow crawl. The comedy is mostly lame, though Bud's instant charisma lifts the humor from level zero, even though Bud seems to be doing this movie in his sleep. Jack Palance gnashes his teeth so much that he seems to be in pain doing this movie. And the director often shoots the actors so that the tops of their heads are cut off at the top of the screen! (The pan-and-scan presentation of the movie makes things even worse.) Not recommended.

One of Bud Spencer's star vehicles without his partner Terence Hill takes him back to familiar Spaghetti Western territory. Despite a good cast (Jack Palance, Francisco Rabal, Luciano Pigozzi) and crew (screenwriters Rafael Azcona and Ernesto Gastaldi, cinematographer Aldo Tonti and composer Luis Enriquez Bacalov), the film rambles amiably along without ever becoming sufficiently memorable.

Spencer seduces Palance's virginal sister (having mistook her in the dark for another dance-hall girl) and flees from her pursuing pistolero/showman brother until he meets an abandoned child in the desert whom he takes under his wing (shades of two films Bud would later make with CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND [1977]'s Cary Guffey); as it turns out, the boy is the proprietor of a dilapidated wellspring which turns out to be rich in oil but they soon fall foul of outwardly harmless sheriff/judge/preacher Rabal. Spencer indulges himself in several of his typical fist-fights and even "Paco" Rabal gets to taste his trademark hammer-blow to the head; amusingly, he puts on his glasses before a fight so that he can think more clearly! Palance scores best as Spencer's laid-back, black-clad, pursuer-cum-partner and brother-in-law to-be. The title song is an agreeable one although it's only played during the opening and closing credits sequences.

I have missed out on this one several times on Italian TV over the years but I did catch the free-for-all finale once; since the quality of the DVD I watched was quite terrible – not just pan-and-scanned but extremely washed out as to lapse into practically black and white at various points!; although it was nice to hear Palance and Rabal's own voices in English, I'll make it a point to tape this one when it's shown again on one of the major Italian TV channels.

Coming too late in the Italian Western cycle to get a significant American release, this tiresome Bud Spencer vehicle tries to be picaresque, as the big lug wanders around having borin on-adventures. A cute young boy is thrown in for sentimental value.

In a parallel world where Hollywood big-screen Westerns had not gone out of style, it could have been perhaps a homegrown vehicle for Dan Blocker to provide old-0fashioned family entertainment following his meteoric success starring on tv in "Bonanza". But as ersatz cornball entertainment it comes up as zero.

Despite having a great cameraman Aldo Tonti, who shot epics like "Barabbas" and classics like Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria", it's a mess, with annoying, inappropriate music and even some dubbed dialog that echoes.

Ivan Coburn (Spencer) deflowered the sister of the fastest gun around, Sonny.(Jack Palance) Sonny wants Coburn to marry his sister so she wont live in shame, and then Sonny wants to kill Coburn. During all this Coburn has to take care of a small boy named Chip Anderson whos uncle died from a gun shot. I laughed alot during this movie....many fights and one liners....This movie was much better than I thought it would be. I think it's for Terence Hill and Bud Spencer fans only...or if you like the whole sphagetti western thing. There is something unusal in this film....there's a guy who pays 2 dollars for a bucket if dirt..and then he eats it!!??? (he's looking for soil with oil in it.) The start to this is also funny.....Coburn complains to his horse through the whole credits because it wont move, but when he sees a man with a gun the horse jumps to it's feet!

My vote is 6/10. A good movie for people who like "They call me Trinity" style movies!